WCQ | Window 1 | Match Day 3: Canada vs El Salvador- Wednesday, Sept 8th, 7:30pm Eastern / 4:30pm Pacific - Toronto, BMO Field

[canadasoccer20]

Must Win. 5 points in the first 3 games would be huge. Need Davies healthy and Buchanen needs to start. He is to good a player to play as poorly as he did against Honduras. Looked great last night.

[Blackjack15]

That's definitely the marriot hotel downtown beside rogers centre

 

Edited September 7, 2021 by Blackjack15

[RS]

El Salvador has the right to train at BMO tomorrow under FIFA rules, so if they’re training elsewhere it’s by choice to keep the entire session under wraps (Herdman did the same thing in Nashville). 

Still, travelling all the way to Cambridge and back seems strange. 

[gigi riva]

3 hours ago, RS said:

El Salvador has the right to train at BMO tomorrow under FIFA rules, so if they’re training elsewhere it’s by choice to keep the entire session under wraps (Herdman did the same thing in Nashville). 

Still, travelling all the way to Cambridge and back seems strange. 

im surprised they dont go to The University of Guelph  they got some great fields there

[gator]

8 minutes ago, RS said:

El Salvador has the right to train at BMO tomorrow under FIFA rules, so if they’re training elsewhere it’s by choice to keep the entire session under wraps (Herdman did the same thing in Nashville). 

Still, travelling all the way to Cambridge and back seems strange. 

I totally understand it after drones were spotted spying on Honduras' training session!

[Olympique_de_Marseille]

34 minutes ago, RS said:

El Salvador has the right to train at BMO tomorrow under FIFA rules, 

Maybe they are afraid we will turn off the lights at BMO Field, like they did to Honduras!

https://www.tudn.mx/futbol/clip/honduras-se-va-sin-reconocer-el-cuscatlan-porque-no-les-prendieron-la-luz

Or maybe we'll "forget" to turn off the sprinklers.

[RJB]

The importance of 3 pts in this match can't be understated.  Our next window of matches will be very difficult, and so we have to rack them up!

[jtpc]

1 hour ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

I assume some players got the Russian or Chinese vaccine?

That was my first thought as well. The Our World in Data website says El Salvador is vaccinating with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac, so they must have received the Chinese vaccine.

[Cheeta]

Only saw about 20 minute of the USA match but after watching the test against Honduras, this is 3 points.

Sure, it's football, shit happens, but this is 3 points.

Go at them.  They have nothing.  Go at them the way other teams used to go at Canada because we had nothing. 

Don't be stupid.  Take what's given, but they will surrender a goal if pressed and then they're done.  Play the ball into their box because it will come.  A header, a penalty, whatever.  And once we're ahead if they try to open it, they are dead meat. 

I firmly believe this is a chance to put on a show for the home support.  Doesn't matter the squad rotation.  We can skin those guys.  If we want to. 😈

Edited September 7, 2021 by Cheeta

[Bertuzzi44]

Vitoria or Henry at CB?

Is Cavallini even healthy? Kennedy? Davies?

Jonathan David is due.

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, Cheeta said:

Only saw about 20 minute of the USA match but after watching the test against Honduras, this is 3 points.

Sure, it's football, shit happens, but this is 3 points.

Go at them.  They have nothing.  Go at them the way other teams used to go at Canada because we had nothing. 

Don't be stupid.  Take what's given, but they will surrender a goal if pressed and then they're done.  Play the ball into their box because it will come.  A header, a penalty, whatever.  And once we're ahead if they try to open it, they are dead meat. 

I firmly believe this is a chance to put on a show for the home support.  Doesn't matter the squad rotation.  We can skin those guys.  If we want to. 😈

Look at the rest of our schedule. It's a mess. Not one "good" window. Most of those points are going to be terrible to get. 

If you had to say "easiest" match, it's this one. 

[An Observer]

I think not getting the 3 points against Honduras is probably something we can live with especially as we got 1 there and then probably an unexpected 1 against the US which really as another great bonding experience for the side.  But dropping 3 against El Salvador would be huge and probably terminal to our qualification chances as they are one of (if not the) weakest side of the 8.  That doesn't mean they are not stronger than expected but who else would you rate lower than them.  Panama has proved to be much better than expected.  Jamaica is on 0 points but you have to say that over 14 matches they will come out ahead of El Salvador if not outright qualify for one of the top 4 spots.  Honduras has 2 hard fought road points.  The one possibility is maybe Costa Rica which really seems to be on a downward slide due to age (although I would reserve judgment on that until perhaps after the November round).

We really need to end with 5 points and not 3 after this round.

[Cblake]

This match is 3 points, simple as that, no excuses. ES is the worst team to make the final round, and being at home Canada needs to take it to them right out of the gate, not play down to their level. 5 out of 9 points from this first break is something Canada can build on. 

[Jedi Ram]

13 hours ago, Olympique_de_Marseille said:

The ref:

https://worldreferee.com/referee/ricardo_montero_araya/

He was our ref for our 2017 Gold Cup match against Jamaica and our 2017 friendly at BMO Field against Jamaica.

---

This match will be tough and a draw is actually fairly likely.

El Salvador has gotten more depth over the past year and we can't expect Johnston &/or Laryea &/or Eustáquio to play 90 minutes.

If Henry is injured we need to bring in Waterman and we need to bring in ZBG as another option too.

---

Honduran player Bryan Moya entered the US illegally (as a child?) and is barred from entering the USA and had to fly in seperately from the rest of the team to Toronto (via Panama).

https://www.diez.hn/laseleccion/1488901-498/seleccion-nacional-honduras-debut-eliminatoria-canada-octagonal-final-concacaf

I haven't heard of a similar case from the delegation from El Salvador.

Use this website, as it gives more recent information of ALL the matches he refereed.  As he done a few MLS canadian matches.

http://www.playmakerstats.com/referee_results.php?grp=0&compet_id_jogos=0&epoca_id=146&epoca_fim_id=151&id=7545&menu=results&type=season

[Jedi Ram]

6 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Look at the rest of our schedule. It's a mess. Not one "good" window. Most of those points are going to be terrible to get. 

If you had to say "easiest" match, it's this one. 

 

4 hours ago, An Observer said:

I think not getting the 3 points against Honduras is probably something we can live with especially as we got 1 there and then probably an unexpected 1 against the US which really as another great bonding experience for the side.  But dropping 3 against El Salvador would be huge and probably terminal to our qualification chances as they are one of (if not the) weakest side of the 8.  That doesn't mean they are not stronger than expected but who else would you rate lower than them.  Panama has proved to be much better than expected.  Jamaica is on 0 points but you have to say that over 14 matches they will come out ahead of El Salvador if not outright qualify for one of the top 4 spots.  Honduras has 2 hard fought road points.  The one possibility is maybe Costa Rica which really seems to be on a downward slide due to age (although I would reserve judgment on that until perhaps after the November round).

We really need to end with 5 points and not 3 after this round.

I agree, this is essentially a must win match...We been fortunate that there has been only 3 wins in the first 2 rounds (out of 8 games) otherwise we would be further down in the standings.  It's more of a psychological thing that if we get another draw at home then everyone would see how far down we are and get to feel negative in the long run.  This team knows that October is a very difficult window with @ Mexico, @ Jamaica before coming home vs. Panama.  Tough road trip.  Getting more than 4 points in that window would be a bonus, but more realistically 1 or 2 points here.  So that makes the El Salvador at home win more important.  Right now based on ELO, we are 52% fav.

[ag futbol]

Stupid question: is Cavallini healthy? 

I mention this as I think the best we’ve seen this team play is with a true target man up top or something very close to it. Namely, when we had Ayo or Cav starting. 

Now I get from a pure talent perspective neither of these players is as good as maybe our other top 4 options (Davies, David, Larin, Tajon). However, they provide something the team badly needs, a reference point in the middle. Larin is often shoe horned into the role but I don’t think that’s him at his best. He’s better as a support striker or drifting inside from out wide.

So my first choice front 3 would be as follows with Larin drifting inside behind the target man: 

Davies——Cav—-Larin

[BrennanFan]

Of course we're better than El Sal but they will park the bus and defend with their lives. We will have to be at our best to pop one in. But as has been said above, once we score, it's over. 

[shorty]

This was ES’ starting 11 in 2016, when we beat them 3-1:

El Salvador's starting XI featured Oscar Arroyo in goal, Bryan Tamacas at right back, Henry Romero and Roberto Dominguez at centre back, Juan Barahona at left back, and Darwin Ceren (c), Pablo Punyed, Oscar Ceren, Jaime Alas, Alexander Larin and Nelson Bonilla in midfield up through to the attack.

This is their squad for tomorrow:

I will admit that I don’t know their squad well enough to dissect whether it’s improved at every position.  To me Alex Roldan is a clear upgrade from what I’ve seen and Hugo Perez is a good manager and has them well organized. That said I think we are miles better than we were in 2016 and I don’t know that they are improved as much. 
 

Be confident but not cocky. Be ruthless when the chances come, and (hallelujah) we know now that every game the chances will come.

(I still have to pinch myself every time I say that)

Edited September 7, 2021 by shorty

[lenny]

21 minutes ago, BrennanFan said:

Of course we're better than El Sal but they will park the bus and defend with their lives.

I don't think so (that they'll park the bus).  El Salvador play a possession game and look to go forward. You have to go back to their Gold Cup game against Mexico to find an opponent that out-possessed them, and even then it wasn't by much.

They're a good team that are better than the sum of their parts.

Edited September 7, 2021 by lenny

[canuckgbp]

They are probably being tight with the news on Davies to keep El Salvador guessing. Do we know what time practice is? Might need a drone of our own. 

If it is serious he would be back on a plane to Bayern and their media would report it right? 

[Floortom]

Just now, canuckgbp said:

They are probably being tight with the news on Davies to keep El Salvador guessing. Do we know what time practice is? Might need a drone of our own. 

If it is serious he would be back on a plane to Bayern and their media would report it right? 

My thought is that Herdman has already spoken to Bayern and has promised that Davies will not play but they want to keep him in Toronto to keep El Salvador guessing and since he’s a key part of the locker room. Bayern would have only accepted that if they knew the injury was minor.

[Admin]

11 hours ago, gator said:

I totally understand it after drones were spotted spying on Honduras' training session!

That they likely flew themselves to game the system.

[Ruud]

15 minutes ago, Floortom said:

My thought is that Herdman has already spoken to Bayern and has promised that Davies will not play but they want to keep him in Toronto to keep El Salvador guessing and since he’s a key part of the locker room. Bayern would have only accepted that if they knew the injury was minor.

Or they didn’t like the change fees charged by Air Canada on the flight back!  
 

seriously, Bayern fans are already tweeting their anger!  And yes I’m sure lack of information at this stage is on purpose.  was it a credible source that said he got an MRI on his knee?  
 

 

[Obinna]

33 minutes ago, shorty said:

This was ES’ starting 11 in 2016, when we beat them 3-1:

El Salvador's starting XI featured Oscar Arroyo in goal, Bryan Tamacas at right back, Henry Romero and Roberto Dominguez at centre back, Juan Barahona at left back, and Darwin Ceren (c), Pablo Punyed, Oscar Ceren, Jaime Alas, Alexander Larin and Nelson Bonilla in midfield up through to the attack.

This is their squad for tomorrow:

I will admit that I don’t know their squad well enough to dissect whether it’s improved at every position.  To me Alex Roldan is a clear upgrade from what I’ve seen and Hugo Perez is a good manager and has them well organized. That said I think we are miles better than we were in 2016 and I don’t know that they are improved as much. 
 

Be confident but not cocky. Be ruthless when the chances come, and (hallelujah) we know now that every game the chances will come.

(I still have to pinch myself every time I say that)

I feel that El Salvador is the least understood of the Ocho teams.

They have no players making a splash in Europe, or anywhere abroad for that matter. At least with Panama you understand they have some dangerous players in South American leagues, if not Europe.

That makes it easy to overlook them (personally I feel that way, I don't know about you guys), but they impress me. They all play the same way, they are all good technically, they are hard working and tenacious, they have a good team spirit and a great home field advantage. They never look disjoined either. To be honest it's always been this way as long as I remember, but this particular generation under Hugo Perez is particularly gelled and they've already put in some good accounts. 

We shouldn't take them lightly, but we need 3 points. It's going to be a very touch match.

I wouldn't pencil in a win, but I want one and believe we can get one.

A draw would be disappointing because of our aspirations, not because the opponent is weak, they are not.

A loss obviously be a disaster, just as losing to us at home would be for them. 

I expect a tight game, hopefully with us winning 1-0, 2-1, etc. I don't expect a multi-goal win, but obviously I would be over the moon if that's what happened.

[Razcal]

How are ticket sales for this match going?

Sure hope we have a full house (as permitted by regulations)